Trip Truck

big world - short life

Introduction To The Issues and Fixes Pages

The following pages are all about the truck's ongoing perveived shorcomings, and / or about equipment that has failed or caused problems since putting the truck into full ‘bad-road’ service. Very minor niggles of the type that could be expected with normal day-to-day motoring are not included.

Water Tank Woes

When the fresh water tank first arrived from CAK it looked like a good robust piece of kit and the company had been very accurate in adding the various fixings I’d specified. I was a little troubled by the fact that in spite of a clear implication in the sales literature that the tank contained no baffles but concluded that because the company’s speciality is the manufacture of such tanks that they knew what they were doing. The first problem that arose was with the twin inspection hatches. When the tank was filled to more than half way, a drive down the road saw small quantities of water escaping past these hatches. It turned out that there should have been a rubber O-ring supplied that sealed the male and female fittings but these had been omitted. In fairness, CAK responded quickly and sent me two O-rings free of charge.

The second - and more troubling problem - arose some time later when travelling with an almost full tank. Basically, the surge of 300+ litres of water seems to have been enough to physically defeat the threads of the foremost inspection hatch and blew the male part straight out of the female. Of course, we didn’t realise until we arrived at our destination to find we were faced with a massive clean-up operation. Believe me, water gets everywhere.

I brought this to the attention of CAK and looked to them for a solution. I was thinking along the lines of purchasing some kind of retro-fit baffle or at least better quality inspection caps. CAK responded by suggesting the problem arose because I hadn’t vented the tank properly. I found this rather patronising as had, and I sent them detailed photos showing them I had. I again asked if I could purchase anything that might help but never heard from them again. Given that I was clearly on my own, I made up some rotating physical stoppers that will hopefully prevent the caps blowing out again whilst still allowing easy access to them for tank cleaning. My conclusion is that the tank should really be baffled and the design is poor. Additionally, the hatches themselves are arguably unfit for purpose. There are better water tank suppliers out there...

The Lewmar hatch sprung a leak after only about six months. The leak was around the joining of the friction hinge mount and the polycarbonate shield (i.e. the hatch lens itself). The problem revolved around the tension on the friction hinge which changes according to temperature (I'm guessing there's a viscous element to its function). The friction hinge is adjustable for pre-load but the manufacturer's instructions do not advocate messing around unnecessarily. When very cold, the hinge, in its factory setting, becomes very stiff. This places a lot of stress on the screws that fasten the hinge to the lens and - in my case anyway - led to enough pressure on the joint to result in the deformation of a crucial gasket. I was definitely aware the hinge was tighter over the winter trips but the force required to open and close the hatch did not seem excessive. On reflection I should probably have ignored the manufacturer's guidance to be cautious with pre-load adjustment and would definitely advocate adjusting the hinge as frequently as required, according to climate.

The leak itself could have been cured by the supply of a new hinge assembly but Lewmar, and the retailer - Marine Megastore - demonstrated truly impressive customer service. They assured me failures were extraordinarily rare and supplied a full, brand new hatch without any quibbles.

As standard, the fuel delivery and return system features section of steel pipe, push-fit fittings and nylon pipe. In a nutshell, the whole system is extremely unreliable. By far the worst culprits are the push-fit fittings: these are not fit for purpose. They frequently leak diesel and, unsurprisingly, allow air into the system. The fittings are an extremely common cause of breakdowns in LD T244s. I persisted with brnd new original fittings for a while but eventually, after an air leak stopped us dead, scrapped them completely and converted to an appropriate-grade rubber pipe and professionally crimped fittings. Some owners I know have also scrapped the original steel pipes (which are allegedly prone to internal corrosion) and converted the entire fuel delivery / return system to flexible rubber pipe with professionally crimped fittings. Many hydraulic / pneumatic hose specialists are capable of making up reliable pipes – you are strongly advised to seek one out local to you.

Leaky Lewmar

Dodgy Diesel Fittings

Digital Odometer Problems

It seems speedometer / odometer malfunction is very common with LD T244s. Almost every owner I know has had some grief and faults are many and varied. My own VDO instrument had an intermittent fault with the digital odometer sometimes simply failing to display. The mileage covered was being recorded; I just sometimes couldn’t see what it was. I initially enlisted the help of a so-called specialist firm who trade as autotek electronics out of Unit 110, 89 Commercial Road, Bournemouth Dorset BH2 5RR. Suffice to say, after months of frustration, I concluded that this firm are inept and immoral in approximately equal measure. I am not alone; I have since discovered they have multiple poor internet reviews. My earnest advice to anyone who hits this after typing autotekelectronics review or autotekelectronics customer service into a search engine would be to avoid the company at all costs. I am able to supply evidence from legal proceedings to substantiate my assertions. Conversely, for a truly professional service, try Continental Automotive Trading UK Ltd. Unit 36, Gravelly Industrial Park, Birmingham. B24 8TA. A technician there fully overhauled my unit for a very reasonable fee and it’s now (mostly) reliable. It still throws the occasional wobbler but turning off the ignition, letting it have a few seconds, then turning things back on sees it resume its usual kind-of-working-properly service. I will, eventually, buy a new unit but have little hope it will prove much more reliable: they just seem extraordinarily rubbish.